Melissa Gilbert has spoken out about protecting child stars following the death of Hayden Panettiere.
The “Little House on the Prairie” alum, 62, published an emotional Substack essay titled “Enough Is Enough” after Panettiere was found dead on Aug. 16 at a Greenville, South Carolina, Airbnb. The actress was 36. Gilbert’s essay also referenced the deaths of Michelle Trachtenberg in February at age 39 and Daveigh Chase on June 16 at age 36, noting that all three were former female child actors of the same generation.
“Within one year, Michelle Trachtenberg, Daveigh Chase and Hayden Panettiere have died,” Gilbert wrote via Substack. “Three former female child actors of the same generation are gone. Tragically, heartbreakingly, agonizingly too soon.”
Gilbert admitted she did not know Panettiere personally but had briefly worked with both Trachtenberg and Chase. She described feeling a deep connection to all three women through their shared experience as former child performers.
“They are gone and the question I have been turning over and over in my head is, ‘WHY?’ Why are these three sweet, wildly talented, vibrant, vital young women gone?” She wrote.
The producer said she takes the deaths personally because it feels like she “was them.” She listed several other former child stars including Brooke Shields, Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning and Drew Barrymore as members of what she called “the same tribe; Female Former Child Performers.”
“When one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current,” Gilbert penned. “When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong.”
Gilbert explained how she and former child stars “know the stories of how the entertainment industry uses, abuses, exploits and then throws away its youngest.” She argued that the trend is getting worse and tied it to “the invention of the mobile phone,” noting that actors now suffer from a lack of privacy in public and in the media.
She posed the question, “How do we fix or end this before someone else dies?”
The “When Calls the Heart” actress got candid about her own experience growing up in the entertainment industry. She wrote, “I can’t tell you how many times I worked while horribly sick, injured or worse.”
Gilbert shared that her father died when she was 11 years old and she returned to work “within months,” She added, “And not one single adult on that set discussed it with me or offered condolences.” Gilbert, who portrayed Laura Ingalls on the beloved western series, continued, “I later found out that the fear was I would become too upset to work. I was eleven, my Daddy had just died and I was shattered.”
“Thank God my character cried in every single episode. That, as twisted as it sounds, was my therapy. My release,” she wrote.
Gilbert suggested that all former child stars should come together to “enact real, substantive change,” with free mental health resources for actors as a top priority. She concluded her essay sharing that she has “an image” of Panettiere’s 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, growing up without her mom. The pre-teen has grown up in Ukraine with her father, Wladimir Klitschko, after Panettiere gave up custody in 2018 due to her ongoing battle with postpartum depression and addiction.
“And now I am weeping as I type this and I just want to scream from the rooftops,” Gilbert signed off, adding, “ENOUGH!”
Gilbert’s essay comes as her husband, Timothy Busfield, 69, faces child sex abuse charges. The “West Wing” actor was arrested on Jan. 13 on charges of criminal sexual contact of a minor and child from incidents with two twin boy child stars dating back to 2022, when the victims were 7 years old. Busfield denied the allegations, telling police at the time of his arrest that it was “highly likely that he would have” had contact with the two victims.
Gilbert has stood by the “Thirtysomething” star’s side. Her rep previously said, “Melissa stands with and supports her husband and will address the public at an appropriate time.” She also claimed Busfield was “the last person in the world who would hurt a child,” telling “Good Morning America” in April that she was “100% confident” he would be exonerated.
In the viral moment that preceded this latest statement, Gilbert appeared in court to support Busfield after he turned himself in to police in June, with the actor promising to fight the accusations against him.
Busfield faces up to 50 years in federal prison if convicted on the charges.